roscompile is a tool for improving Catkin packages by fixing common errors and tweaking the style. To run, simply navigate to a folder containing the packages you’d like to tweak, and type roscompile. This will automatically apply all the fixes described below. Certain rules can be ignored by tweaking the configuration. If you want to interactively apply the rules, use the -i option.

You can also explicitly enumerate which fixes you want to run with the roscompile_command executable.

There are also some other useful scripts described at the bottom of this documentation.

roscompile Features

Dependencies

• Checks for dependencies by looking in the source code, message, service, action and launch files.
• check_manifest_dependencies - Inserts build/run/test dependencies into your package.xml
• check_python_dependencies - Inserts run dependencies for external Python libraries
• check_cmake_dependencies - Inserts dependencies into your CMakeLists.txt (in both the find_package and catkin_package commands)

package.xml

• remove_empty_export_tag - Remove the empty export tag
• remove_boilerplate_manifest_comments - Remove boiler-plate comments
• remove_empty_manifest_lines - Remove empty lines
• greedy_depend_tag If a format 2 package.xml, collapses matching build_depend/build_export_depend/exec_depend commands into a single depend command
• enforce_manifest_tabbing Ensure standard indentation of each tag
• enforce_manifest_ordering - Sort all of the tags by type and value
• update_people - Reads the <author> and <maintainer> tags and allows you to programmatically replace them. (i.e. ‘dlu’, ‘Dave Lu’, ‘David Lu’’, ‘dlu@TODO’ can all become ‘David V. Lu!!’) (see configuration section below)
• update_license - Updates TODO licenses to a configurable default license (see configuration section below)
• update_metapackage - Update your metapackage dependencies
• misc_xml_formatting - Remove extra whitespace from inside tags in package.xml (and plugin xmls)

CMakeLists.txt

• check_generators - Automatically looks for msg/srv/action/dynamic_reconfigure definitions and ensures they are properly built in the CMakeLists.txt
• enforce_cmake_ordering - Enforces the ordering of the commands

CMake Style

• remove_boilerplate_cmake_comments - Removes boiler-plate comments
• remove_empty_cmake_lines - Removes empty lines

• alphabetize_sections - Alphabetizes the COMPONENTS, DEPENDENCIES, FILES and CATKIN_DEPENDS sections of CMake commands

• prettify_catkin_package_cmd - Ensures standard indentation of catkin_package
• prettify_package_lists - Ensures standard indentation of find_package/COMPONENTS and catkin_package/CATKIN_DEPENDS
• prettify_msgs_srvs - Ensures standard indentation of add_message_files and add_service_files
• prettify_installs - Ensures standard indentation of install commands

CMake Installs

• update_cplusplus_installs - Checks for install commands for C++ executables/libraries/header files
• update_python_installs - Checks for install commands for Python executables
• update_misc_installs - Checks for install commands for launch files, plugin configurations and other non-code files.
• fix_double_directory_installs - Checks to make sure directory installs don’t use the name of the directory twice, a la $INSTALL_LOCATION/launch/launch/whatever.launch

C++

• Examines the add_library and add_executable commands in the CMakeLists.txt and ensures that each is matched with the appropriate catkin variables.
  • target_catkin_libraries - Checks dependencies on ${catkin_LIBRARIES}
  • check_exported_dependencies - Checks dependencies on ${catkin_EXPORTED_TARGETS} and ${PKG_NAME_EXPORTED_TARGETS}
  • remove_old_style_cpp_dependencies - Removes dependencies on the old style of C++ dependencies (i.e. __generate_messages_cpp, _gencpp and _gencfg) and replaces them with the above EXPORTED_TARGETS
• check_includes - Sets up the include_directories command
• check_library_setup - ensures your libraries are exported into the catkin_package command

Python

• check_setup_py - If you have python code, will automatically generate setup.py for you.

Misc

• check_dynamic_reconfigure - If there are dynamic_reconfigure configurations, ensure the package depends on dynamic_reconfigure, and the configurations are configured in the CMake and executable.
• remove_useless_files - Removes autogenerated mainpage.dox file
• check_plugins - If you use pluginlib, will search your code for PLUGINLIB_EXPORT_CLASS macros, and update your plugin xml accordingly.
• clean_up_rviz_configs - Removes the defaults from RViz config files so that they are smaller and cleaner.

Configuration

Located at ~/.ros/roscompile.yaml

• skip_fixes: An array of strings representing fixes that you’d like to always ignore when running roscompile
• cmake_style: Can be either test_first or install_first to indicate whether to convert to having the tests or the installs first in the CMakeLists if the existing commands are improperly ordered.
• default_license - String for the license you want your package manifest to have (if it is set to TODO originally).
• replace_rules: An array of dictionaries representing users you’d like to have replaced in the package.xml. For example, one entry in the array could be:

 from: {email: dlu@todo.todo, name: dlu}
 to: {email: davidvlu@gmail.com, name: David V. Lu!!}
 

The to name and email must be specified, but you only need to specify either the name or email for the from.

Other Scripts

The other scripts work similarly to the main tool in that they run on all the packages found within your current folder.

upgrade_manifest

Upgrade your package.xml to either format 2 or 3. Without any arguments, it will convert to format 2. rosrun roscompile upgrade_manifest 3 will upgrade to format 3.

The deprecated version is convert_to_format_2 which still exists and works, but is not preferred.

noetic_migration

Migrates your package from a pre-Noetic version to be compatible with Noetic, invoked with rosrun roscompile noetic_migration. Adding the -m option is useful when using the same branch for Noetic and other distros AND you’re using Python, as it will conditionally depend on the proper python- and python3- libraries.

add_compile_options

This script will add C++ compile flags to your CMakeLists.txt.

• -1 will add -std=c++11
• -w will add -Wall
• -e will add -Werror
• -a will add all of the above.

add_tests

This script will add roslaunch and/or roslint tests to your package, updating both the manifest.xml and CMakeLists.txt.

• -r will add roslaunch tests.

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